Gentrification
watch:
In January
2018 "The
Bronx saw a 23
percent
increase in
building
volume, but
dollar and
transaction
volume dropped
by 33 and 22
percent,
respectively.
There were
seven
transactions
in the borough
across 16
properties in
January for
$49.3 million
overall. The
largest was
PRB Realty
Corp’s $14.14
million sale
of a
six-building
portfolio...Queens
saw just four
transactions
across eight
buildings for
$69.4 million.
Building
volume dropped
by 33 percent,
while
transaction
volume dropped
by 47 percent.
However,
dollar volume
ticked up by
11 percent to
$69.35
million, as
three of the
four
transactions
across eight
buildings were
for more than
$20 million,
including
Steelpoint
Property
Group’s
purchase of
34-04 34th
Avenue, 30-44
32nd Street
and 31-36 32nd
Street for
$22.7
million."

UNITED NATIONS,
March 7 – UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres says he
and the UN have a "zero
tolerance" policy for
harassment, and for retaliation.
Inner City
Press has asked the UN about
harassment
complaints at UNHCR when
Guterres ran it, and at
UNAIDS during the
tenure there of
Guterres'
point person on
the issue, Jan
Beagle, who has
yet to hold a
press conference.
Worth
noting is previous
UN gender
advisor
Rachel Mayanja
turns out to be a
slumlord, owning a run-down
apartment building in
Worchest, Massachusetts
whose tenants
are complaining
to the local
newspaper.
Mayanja,
photographed
at the UN's "Women
Can't Wait!"
event with Meryl
Streep, owns
and collects
rent from 205
Millbury
Street in
Worchester,
which from
2015 to 2017 racked
up 84
violations of
the minimum
standards for
human
habitation
under the
state sanitary
code. Mayanja
says she is now
involved in
charitable
work in Africa (she is from
Uganda),
while the Worchester
building is
registered to
her address at
the Manhattan
Park complex
on Roosevelt
Island.
As too often with
the UN, from Haiti cholera to
targeted restrictions
on the investigative
Press, it's a
case of Do what I
say, not what I do.
On
March 7 Inner City
Press asked Guterres'
deputy spokesman
Farhan Haq about this,
UN transcript
here:
Inner City Press:
the former gender
adviser of the UN,
Rachel
Mayanja.
There's a report out
ofWorcester,
Massachusetts, that
she's the owner of a
building with
massive
violations.
And many people
there said it's
somehow inconsistentwith
the ethos of the
United
Nations. Does
she have any UN
role? And does
the
Secretary-General
have any guidance to
former ASGs
[Assistant
Secretaries-General],
how they should run
rental property if
they own them?Deputy
Spokesman:
Well, regarding
that, we're aware of
these reports.
Rachel Mayanja does
not have any role
with the United
Nations
anymore. She's
a former
employee. So,
we have no oversight
over her. Of
course, we hope
that, even when they
leave UN service,
all of our staff
abide by the
principles of the
United Nations."
Right. Guterres
through his lead spokesman
Stephane Dujarrichas
tried to answer Press
questions about complainants
by declaring that sexual
harassment
is not involved,
for example
at UNFPA
in India, below.
That
is contradicted by the
complainant.
Now the UN
refugee agency
UNHCR which
Guterres ran
for ten years
before
his 14 month as far as UNSG is
identified
as having
numerous
sexual abuse
complaints: "one
substantiated
case of abuse
in 2016, for
which a member
of staff had
been
dismissed. It
had 19
complaints of
sexual
exploitation
or abuse in
2017, of which
six are still
being
assessed. One
alleged victim
was 17.
Details of two
other cases
involving
under-18s are
unknown. Ms
Jolie declined
to comment but
a source close
to the actress
said she will
find the
allegations
‘upsetting’
and
‘inexcusable’
and has raised
the matter
with the
agency."
Will Guterres
answer for
these? He's
put in charge
of his task
force Jan
Beagle who was
the deputy at
UNAIDS amid
systemic
sexual harassment
there.

UNITED
NATIONS, March 2 – When Haiti's President Moises
spoke in the UN General Assembly on the morning of
September 21, he called for UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres to follow through on his
statements and provide funding for both tracks of
the so-called New Approach to the cholera the UN
brought to the island: that is, to pay
reparations. Inner City Press, which accompanied
and covered the Security Council's trip to Haiti
this year, has repeatedly asked Guterres'
spokesman Stephane Dujarric to make the envoy UN
envoy on the issue, Josette Sheeran, available for
questions. It has not happened. On March 1, Inner
City Press found on the UN Photo website two
photographs of a UN "Haiti Transformation Retreat"
held in the New York suburbs, with among others
Guterres, Sheeran and Deputy Secretary General
Amina J. Mohammed. It tweeted one of the photos
and went to the March 2 UN noon briefing to ask
for a read-out of the event. Guterres' spokesman
Stephane Dujarric replied that the event was
canceled -- Inner City Press immediately returned
to UN Photo's most recent shots and the trio and
dinner were gone -- but that something has gone
forward. Inner City Press asked, Who was there?
Beyond Sarah the Dutchess of York? Dujarric
declined to give a list. Seems Haiti's recalling
its ambassador, after Susan Page's comments,
resulted in at least partial cancellation of the
Haiti Retreat. Now about that dinner...

February
26, 2018

HBO
has for "The
Deuce" leased
780 E. 135th
Street - can
you say,
Wedtech?

UNITED
NATIONS, February 16 – The UN has been the venue
for bribes paid from Macau based operative Ng Lap
Seng and now Patrick Ho of the China Energy Fund
Committee - but on February 13 the UN allowed an
Indonesia based weapons company to advertise not
only machine guns and drones but even tanks inside
the UN. Periscope video here.
Inner City Press began filming the surprising
display, and by day's end the mannequin soldier
and separate Darfur peacekeeper were covered in
white sheets. But is that enough, for the UN? The
tank ad was for Pindad, with offices in Bandung
and Jakarta. On February 14, with the display
still there now with running video, Periscope here, Inner
City Press asked UN Spokesman Farhan Haq, who
contrary to the later closing of the exhibit said
it was entirely up to Indonesia, UN transcript here and
below. Later when Inner City Press asked the
representatives of the Indonesia mission at the
exhibit, they began filming Inner City Press. On
February 16, Inner City Press asked Haq's boss
Stephane Dujarric, video here,
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: I wanted to ask you about the…
the… the display, which is now gone that was
downstairs, that I had asked you about
yesterday. You said you would look into
it. After that, I noticed that they put up a
sign saying ask the organizers. The UN is
not embracing… it was basically showing automatic
weapons, okay. But, I did speak to the
organizers as the sign encouraged me to do and as
I believe Farhan [Haq] told me to do, and what
they said is that the purpose of that… that
advertising exhibition was it was all about
peacekeeping, that these were items to be sold to
countries for peacekeeping. So, I just
wanted to ask you…Spokesman: "My
understanding is that what was agreed upon and
what was actually shown were not the same things,
and that's why we've asked them to take it down."
The UN transcript omits Inner City Prss asking
Dujarric what it was that the UN agreed upon, and
why Haq claimed there was no UN role. We'll have
more on this. After Inner City Press asked lead UN
Spokesman Dujarric, a fig-leaf sign was put up,
that the UN was "not endorsing." Would the UN
accept a child pornography display? Meanwhile
Dujarric intoned, "The Secretary-General is
writing today to Florida Governor Rick Scott and
to Ambassador Nikki Haley, the Permanent
Representative of the United States to the United
Nations, to express his profound sadness at the
horrific gun massacre that took place yesterday in
Parkland, Florida." While in the UN automatic
weapons were being advertised. (After Inner City
Press asked and filmed, it came down on the
afternoon of February 15.) It's like Guterres
eulogizing Ruud Lubbers, without mentioning his
sexual harassment. Today's UN is corrupt. From the
UN's February 14 transcript: Inner City Press:
Down in the 1B basement of UN, on the… I guess
it's some kind of hallway between the GA (General
Assembly) and the Vienna Café area, there's a
display of armaments, of arm sales. It's an
Indonesian weapons company called Pindad, and they
have ads for tanks and machine guns. They
have two peacekeepers now covered by a sheet, at
least overnight. But I was wondering… I
mean, maybe it's up to Member States what they do,
but given that… that some of these are purely
offensive weap… purely, you know, attacking
weapons — they're not defensive weapons — like
tanks that the UN, I don't think, buys. What
is… who approved that? And what's the
purpose of… of marketing weapons inside the United
Nations building? Deputy Spokesman: Well, as
always, regarding exhibits that are sponsored by
Member States, you would have to ask… check with
the Member States about the exhibit. That's
the responsibility of the Member State." There
were photos of VIP aircrafts, while Secretary
General Antonio Guterres is out of town again.

February
12, 2018

Dwayne
Pritchett, 48,
was pronounced
dead at New
York-Presbyterian
The Allen
Hospital after
police say he
lost
consciousness
in their
custody on
Jan. 28.
The NYPD says
its Force
Investigation
Division is
also looking
into the
incident.
Lawyers for
Alotisia
Stevens, the
mother of
Pritchett's
3-year-old
son, are
praising the
independent
investigation.
Police had
responded to a
2767 Reservoir
Ave. home
around 4:50
p.m..

February
5, 2018

The
trial of
police officer
Hugh Barry for
fatally
shooting
66-year-old
Deborah
Danner, a
woman known in
the
neighborhood
as having
schizophrenia,
inside her
bedroom on
Oct. 18, 2016
at 630 Puglsey
Avenue is full
of echoes of
Eleanor
Bumpurs...

January
29, 2018

From
the courts: On
January 25,
2018, at
approximately
10:00 a.m.,
HYLTON entered
a bank in the
Bronx, gained
access to the
secure teller
area, and
approached a
bank
teller.
HYLTON
brandished
what appeared
to be a
shotgun and
demanded that
the teller
give him the
money the
teller was
holding.
HYLTON took
from the
teller over
$7,000 in
United States
currency.
HYLTON then
fled and was
later
apprehended
and arrested.

Ok - but what
about the
banks robbing
The Bronx?

January
22, 2018

Portraits
of
de-industrialization:
"Location: The
site is
located in an
urban area at
414 Gerard
Avenue in the
Mott Haven
neighborhood
of the Bronx.
The about
12,600-square-foot
lot is
situated on
the
southwestern
corner of the
block bound by
East 146th
Street to the
north, Walton
Avenue to the
east, East
144th Street
to the south,
and Gerard
Avenue to the
west. Site
Features: The
12,600-square-foot
(0.29 acres)
site is
developed with
a vacant,
one-story
manufacturing
building with
a partial
cellar. A
3,000-gallon
No. 2 fuel oil
aboveground
storage tank
(AST) was
installed in
the partial
cellar in 1953
(New York
State
Department of
Environmental
Conservation
[NYSDEC]
Petroleum Bulk
Storage [PBS]
Site No.
2-207209).
Current Zoning
and Land Use:
According to
the New York
City Planning
Commission
Zoning Map 6a,
the site is
located within
the Lower
Concourse
Special Mixed
Use Paired
District
(M1-4/R8A).
This paired
district
promotes
development
and expansion
of the
longstanding
mix of
residential,
commercial,
industrial,
and cultural
use throughout
the area. M1
districts
typically
include light
industrial
uses such as
woodworking
shops, repair
shops, and
wholesale
service and
storage
facilities,
and R8
districts
promote
residential
development.
Zoning is
consistent
with the
proposed
mixed-use
development.
The
surrounding
area is
primarily
commercial and
industrial,
but also
includes
residential
buildings,
public parks,
day care
centers, and
schools. As
part of the
June 2009
Lower
Concourse
Rezoning, the
site was
E-Designated
for hazardous
materials and
noise (E-227
and City
Environmental
Quality Review
[CEQR] No.
08DCP071X).
Past Use of
the Site: The
site was an
undeveloped
vacant lot
until at least
1928. A diner
was located in
the southern
portion from
1935 to 1944;
however, the
site again
appears vacant
from 1946 to
1951. The
existing
on-site
building was
constructed in
the early
1950s, and the
site
historically
operated as a
jewelry box
manufacturer
(Rocket
Jewelry) from
at least 1954
to 2016. From
the 1950s
through the
1970s, Rocket
Jewelry
manufactured
jewelry
packaging
(including
decorative
boxes and
textile
covered metal
boxes) and
displays.
During this
time period,
metal jewelry
boxes were
typically
constructed
using a
mixture of
metals
including
cadmium,
copper, lead,
nickel, and
zinc.
Lead-based
paint may also
have been used
to decorate
the outside of
the jewelry
boxes.
Evidence of
heavy
machinery and
nearby drains
was observed
throughout the
first floor
and partial
cellar. In the
1980s, Rocket
Jewelry moved
the
manufacturing
processes
overseas and
maintained the
Bronx-based
warehouse for
packaging and
distribution
until 2016"...

January
15, 2018

RIP
Tim Rollins,
dead at 62,
too young.

January
8, 2018

Hero,
from Ghana to
The Bronx -
and still the
UN has said
and done
nothing:
"Private First
Class Emmanuel
Mensah, who
was tragically
killed while
rescuing four
individuals
from the
massive
apartment fire
in the Bronx.
Pfc. Mensah’s
family
emigrated from
Ghana and was
a permanent
legal resident
who enlisted
in the New
York Army
National Guard
in 2016.
According to
reports, Pfc.
Mensah
successfully
evacuated a
family of six
and ran back
into the
inferno four
times to save
the lives of
others."

January
1, 2018

In The
Bronx, As
Dozen Killed
By Fire On
Prospect Ave,
Of Happy Land
&
Woodycrest,
Blame-Games

By
Matthew Russell Lee

BRONX,
NY , December 28 – The Bronx has suffered
another tragedy, a December 28 fire on Prospect
Avenue near 187th Street which killed at least
twelve people, including a one-year old. 2363
Prospect Avenue was like any other building in
the neighborhood; newspapers search NYC housing
databases trying to find in code violations an
explanation, someone to blame. This is the
pattern.

2363 Prospect is a short walk
from where 87 were killed in the Happy Land Social
Club fire on March 25, 1990. Bodies were laid out
in a public school just across Southern Boulevard.
What is it, about our Bronx and fire?
Disinvestment plays a role, but there is more.
Further west in The Bronx, 10 died on March 7,
2008 in a fire at 1022 Woodycrest Avenue. Then,
despite the victims being from West Africa, as
Inner City Press noted the United Nations did
nothing. Now, UN Secretary General is on vacation
in Portugal, robo-tweeting
about the UN's solidarity with the poor. We'll
see. Rest in peace.

December
25, 2017

Bronx
apartment:
"OLIVER
SOHNGEN, a/k/a
“Helmuth
Moss,” a/k/a
“Stephan
Weierbach,”
was sentenced
today to 135
months in
prison for sex
trafficking of
minors.
SOHNGEN pled
guilty on
August 10,
2017, before
U.S.
Magistrate
Judge Ronald
L. Ellis, and
was sentenced
today by U.S.
District Judge
Lewis A.
Kaplan. Acting
Manhattan U.S.
Attorney Joon
H. Kim
said:
“Oliver
Sohngen, a
teacher at a
music school
for children,
was a sexual
predator.
He paid to
have sex with
minor girls at
least twice,
and attempted
to engage in
sex
trafficking of
girls under
the age of
14.
His
significant
sentence will
ensure that he
is no longer a
threat to our
community, in
particular,
our
children.
We remain
committed to
prosecuting
all those who,
like Sohngen,
prey on our
most innocent
and vulnerable
victims.”
Between March
2013 and
November 2013,
SOHNGEN
exchanged text
messages with
a
co-conspirator
to arrange
paid sexual
encounters
with minor
girls ranging
in age from 8
to 17.
On at least
two occasions,
SOHNGEN
engaged in
sexual contact
with minor
girls at the
co-conspirator’s
apartment in
the Bronx, New
York."

Decemeber
18, 2017

477
Gerard Avenue:
"The site was
developed with
commercial and
industrial
uses since at
least 1908.
Specific past
uses include a
lumberyard, a
sign frame
company, auto
junkyard, and
auto repair
facility. "

December
11, 2017

Trials
we're
watching: U.S.
v. Kevin
Walker – the
defendant is
charged with
participating
in a series of
armed
robberies of
employees at
commercial
establishments
in the Bronx

UNITED
NATIONS, December 1 – On November 20, the US
Attorney for the Southern District of New York
issued an indictment against former Senegal
foreign minister Cheikh Gadio and the head of the
UN ECOSOC accredited China Energy Fund Committee
Patrick Ho - still pictured on the UN website in
an active post - accused together of bribing
Chad's President Idriss Deby (as well as, for Ho,
of bribing former UN President of the General
Assembly Sam Kutesa, now as then the foreign
minister of Uganda). On December 1, Patrick Ho
appeared in the Arraignment Part, Courtroom 5A at
500 Pearl Street in Lower Manhattan and applied
for bail, which Gadio had gotten on November 27.
But this time, following a Pre-Trial Services
recommendation that bail be denied and Ho continue
in detention, Ho was denied bail. His lawyer
called the Pre-Trial Services report "knee jerk,"
and emphasized that Ho would want to stay and the
US and defend his reputation. The prosecutor, Daniel
Richenthal, active in the Ng Lap
Seng trial as well, said
Ho's reputation as an NGO leader was an illusion.
He took as an example a speech Ho gave, saying
that "the Chinese energy conglomerate" -- CEFC --
paid $350,000 to the think tank and $20,000 to its
director, personally. He said the US has not
extradition treaty with Hong Kong then when one
was slapped on the table in front of him pointed
out that there is an exception for political
cases. He said, Google the press coverage of this
case and from Hong Kong you'll find articles
saying it's political. Inner City Press has
covered the case daily since November 20, and
asked the UN Spokesman on each business day (it
did a TV interview after the court decision, and
Periscope video here)
- but it is the UN connection which the UN tries
to hide. Ho's lawyer said he's been to the US
seven times this years. The prosecution said, five
times. But how many times has Ho come into the UN?
The UN keeps track of this. But will they
disclose? Ho's defense lawyer, after a long oral
decision against him, said he will appeal. Watch
this site. Hhours before Patrick Ho's bail
hearing, Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman
Stephane Dujarric about Gadio's bail being paid,
in part, by his spouse the UN's Resident
Coordinator in Equatorial Guinea. Dujarric
bristled that he hoped his spouse would pay his
bail, but then when Inner City Press asked how
Gadio got into the UN building for the bribe moves
described in the indictment, whether it involved
his wife's position as a senior UN official,
Dujarric said it would be looked into. Really?
Then why has Antonio Guterres not even
commissioned an audit, as Ban Ki-moon did after
the indictment of Ng Lap Seng? We'll have more on
this. Inner City Press has zeroed in on a November
21 event, after the indictment, in which UN DESA
used $1 million from CEFC. On November 30, after
many rounds of questions from Inner City Press, UN
Spokesman Stephane Dujarric answered that DESA has
suspended work with CEFC pending the outcome of
the U.S. case(s). Periscope here

UNITED
NATIONS, November 22 – On November 20, the US
Attorney for the Southern District of New York
issued an indictment against former Senegal
foreign minister Cheikh Gadio as well as against
the head of the China Energy Fund Committee
Patrick Ho. On Thanksgiving eve November 22 at 4
pm in an otherwise empty courthouse at 500 Pearl
Street, bail was sought for Gadio, so he could
spend Thanksgiving in Maryland. Federal Defender -
assigned counsel - Sabrina Shroff lambasted the
prosecutors for delaying. She said that unlike Ng
Lap Seng, the billionaire Macau-based businessman
now still under house arrest despite six guilty
verdicts in connection with UN bribery, her client
is not a billionaire. Notably, he has said he is
financially unable to retain counsel. Judge
Marrero did not set him free on bail, setting the
matter over for Monday after Thanksgiving. On the
elevator down the prosecution was accused of
"white man-splaining;" reference was made to
Daniel Richenthal, prosecutor in the Ng Lap Seng
trial as well, and to the UN International School.
We'll have more on this - and another of Gadio's
roles that brought him to the UN Press Briefing
Room in October 2015, as "Special Envoy of the
Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) for
the Central African Republic." The UN,
increasingly, is corrupt. It is alleged that
Chadian president Deby took bribes for oil
concessions in Chad, and that 2014-15 UN President
of the General Assembly Sam Kutesa took bribes for
oil concessions in Uganda. Kutesa's predecessor
John Ashe died under indictment; the depths of the
UN's corruption extend into 2017 with the signing
of dubious rosewood
export certificates in Nigeria by Secretary
General Antonio Guterres' Deputy Amina J. Mohammed
and set-aside
UN employment for the German Ambassador's wife,
via Guterres' chief of staff. At noon on November
21 Inner City Press asked Guterres spokesman
Farhan Haq about the indictment and CEFC and its
$5 million grant program with UN DESA, transcript
here
and below. Guterres had a 5:45 pm photo op with
the "Winners of the Annual Award of the UN Grant
on Sustainable Energy" - which seems
to have been funded by China Energy Fund
Committee, under the heading "Powering
the Future We Want." He "canceled,"
photos here,
but his Deputy Amina J. Mohammed was still listed
giving remarks for / at the event at 1 pm, though
at 5:30 pm those remarks were not on her website
unlike later 2:30 pm remarks. On November 22 Inner
City Press asked their spokesman Farhan Haq, who
argued that the indictment is only of "Doctor
Patrick Ho" personally, so it was fine to keep and
go forward with CEFC's money. (He said Amina J.
Mohammed did not speak.)

Noember
20, 2017

Rest in Peace
Mel Rosenthal,
who took some
of the best
photos ever of
The Bronx.
Presente!

UNITED
NATIONS, November 10 – When UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres presented his proposed “peace and
security” reform to the General Assembly in UN
Conference Room 2 on November 9, it was initially
going to be in a closed meeting. Inner City Press
asked about it two days in a row and, an hour
before the meeting, it was changed to open “but no
UN webcast.” (But see below). Then on November 10,
when Guterres and his Deputy Amina J. Mohammed
embroiled in the "Rosewood Racket" scandal
touching on not only Nigeria but also Cameroon,
presented their development reform proposals in
ECOSOC, Inner City Press could only cover it with
a minder. Other correspondents could go there
freely - but did not. Even with the minder still
required by the UN Department of Public
Information's Alison Smale, the UN Security
officer in front of ECOSOC indicated he'd make
sure Inner City Press remained "minded," even as
tourists wandered freely. This is censorship.
Inside ECOSOC, questions included what the role of
states would be in appointing Resident
Coordinators? Ecuador for the Group of 77 said the
process must be transparent - on a day the UN
canceled its noon briefing, and did not answer
Inner City Press' e-mailed questions. Mexico said
it wants ECOSOC to be more of debate or
deliberative body. The US spoke (briefly) against
duplication and waste. In the middle of this,
Mohammed tweeted about the Sahel: a robo-tweet?
The duo, set to leave New York, left with UN
Security and entourage, no answers. Earlier on
November 10 Guterres has gotten even less
transparent. When he left a media stakeout for
which the day's noon press briefing was canceled
after a mere three questions, none on Yemen much
less Cameroon, it was not disclosed where he was
going. Guterres' public schedule did not list
anything after this. But it emerges Guterres is at
the Lotte Palace Hotel, in the Villard Ballroom on
the second floor. Previously, Guterres' spokesman
Stephane Dujarric has refused to tell Inner City
Press with whom Guterres had a one on one lunch
meeting on the 38th floor of the UN before flying
off on the public dime to his home in Lisbon. But
how could this one not be on his public schedule?
Dujarric, before refusing to answer any follow up
questions, told Inner City Press, "The UN70 is a
group of member states and they are organizing the
retreat. It’s an internal meeting." In the Lotte
Palace, tweeted by at least six states? On
November 9, Inner City Press told the UN it would
Periscope and was led to the photo booth; there
due to Kafka-esque threats from the UN, it
unilaterally decided only to broadcast what
Guterres, paid by the global public, said. It was
a mouthful: Guterres called Kenya's Ambassador
Kamau “sincerely unfair; as the meeting was
gaveled closed he turned on his microphone to tell
Djibouti how support to AMISOM in Somalia would be
effected. Russia raised many questions; others
provided rote support. Reviews afterward were
mixed. But Inner City Press remains under
restrictions imposed by the UN Department of
Public Information 20 months ago for covering UN
corruption. It raised the issue again to the head
of DPI on November 9; watch this site. When
Guterres held his pre-General Assembly week press
conference on September 13, Inner City Press asked
him about reform, in light of the Ng Lap Seng UN
bribery guilty verdicts
and new reports
of peacekeepers' sexual abuse. Guterres responded
on the latter, see below. Now a month later,
Guterres is pitching a reform plan that many do
not understand, and others don't agree with. Inner
City Press went to cover Guterres' presentation to
the UN's Fifth (Budget) Committee on October 11,
but was quickly told by UN Security, "No Press."
So it went to the photo booth and streamed a
Periscope video, here.
Guterres sat next to Cameroon's Ambassador, here.
There were speeches by Ecuador, Trinidad and
Tobago (fresh off its elimination of the US from
the World Cup), the EU and Australia. Then
Guterres left, before the US spoke. There was
nothing else on his schedule for the day. We'll
have more on this. Here's a sample Guterres
"reform" proposal: "A Standing Principals’ Group
of Under Secretaries General (USGs) and the EOSG,
to provide leadership for all strategic, political
and operational functions and ensure a coherent
'whole-of-pillar' approach... Interaction with the
global operational support and management
departments would be facilitated at the level of
the Standing Principals’ Group as well as through
dedicated capacity within the Departments at the
strategic and operational levels, including within
the integrated operational team [IOT] concept."
Sources close to Guterres exclusively complain to
Inner City Press this is little more than
"Lacroix' DPKO trying to grab the IOTs." They
point to the lame duck status of Jeffrey Feltman
at the Department of Political Affairs as leading
to DPA "losing the turf war with Peacekeeping."
Meanwhile, the sources say, there is increasing
frustration on the UN's 38th floor at the
"message" not getting out, even talk of hiring
outside communicators, rather than holding those
already getting paid accountable. The new head of
Global Communcations, Alison Smale, never
responded to a detailed petition to her before
the General Assembly week, nor to one after
the week - nor since (it was raised to her again
on November 9). Ah, Communications, f/k/a DPI
which evicted and still restricts Inner City Press
which every day asks questions and reports, in
favor of no-show state media like Egypt's Akhbar
al Yom which has not asked a single question
during Guterres' tenure. The UN is UNreformed.

November
6, 2017

At
UN $50,000
Charge For
Biden Talk,
Guterres To Be
Sold on Wall
St, Public
Funds to
Lisbon

UNITED
NATIONS, November 3 – Joe Biden appeared at the UN
on November 3, and tables were sold
for up to $50,000. One might think, after the
proved corruption of the UN in the Ng Lap Seng /
John Ashe trial for events in this same Delegates
Dining Room, charging this kind of money for
sitting with a “senior UN official” would be
a thing of the past. But no. Ban Ki-moon allowed
the corruption of Ng Lap Seng, and Antonio
Guterres has done thing to reverse it. In fact,
Guterres left through the same door Biden came in,
one hour before, using public funds to fly to his
home in Lisbon, using a 15 minutes speech there on
Monday to justify a three day UN paid junket. And
his spokesman refused to answer questions, even
about his one on one lunches on the 38th floor,
where Inner City Press' use of Periscope during
photo ops has allowed Guterres' DPI under Alison
Smale to threaten its accreditation. All of this
takes place while Guterres covers up mass killing
in Cameroon, and is prepared to be sold himself,
on Wall Street no less. We'll have more on this.
On November 2, Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric announced that "on Monday, the
Secretary-General will be in Lisbon to participate
in the Web Summit 2017, which brings together the
leaders of key Internet companies with officials
from different Governments. You are aware of
the attention the Secretary-General has been
devoting to the uses of the Internet." Really?
Guterres was silent for example when Cameroon cut
off the Internet for 94 days this year; his
Department of Public Information has threatened
Inner City Press' accreditation for unspecified
violation by live-streaming a Guterres photo op
using Twitter's Periscope platform. But why did
Guterres take this speaking gig, which it turns
out is for only 15 minutes at 7:25 pm on the
evening of Monday, November 6? Inner City Press
asked Dujarric, who refused to state with whom
Guterres had a formal lunch meeting in the UN
dining room with UN funds on November 3, where
Guterres will be on Saturday and Sunday. Dujarric
replied: "sg will be in lisbon over the weekend."
It sure seems like that's why he took the Lisbon
speaking gig. And in fact, even before 5 pm on
Friday, November 3, Guterres left the UN with
bodyguards, in a three-car convoy. Who is paying
for all this? On October 27, after Guterres'
spokespeople stonewalled Inner City Press for
three days on his plans for a grip and grin
meeting in a Cameroon airport with Paul Biya, who
has killed hundreds this year as well as cutting
the Internet Guterres loves so much, they also
refused to say how Guterres personal, or shall we
say Lisbon-focused, travel is paid for, and how
much it costs.

October
30, 2017

ICP
Asked David
Kaye About a
FOIA for UN,
Smale's Threat to ICP, Then
Asks UN Which
Dodges

UNITED
NATIONS, October 25 – When UN Special Rapporteur
David A. Kaye held a short press conference at
the UN on October 25, he called for the UN to
institute an access to information policy. Inner
City Press asked him to specify what the UN
Secretariat of Antonio Guterres can and should
do on its own, without waiting for or blaming
the General Assembly. Inner City Press also
asked him about the UN new October 20 threat
to review its accreditation, including for
ill-defined violations on an unspecified date on
the UN's 38th floor. Video here.

Kaye
said the Secretariat can act on FOIA, while
educating and bringing the General Assembly
along. He called unsatisfactory the UN's
previous response
to his inquiry
about the eviction of Inner City Press (for
covering an event in the same UN Press Briefing
Room Kaye spoke in). Two hours later, Inner City
Press asked UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq about
both issues. From the UN
transcript: regarding the freedom of
information access, this is something that we've
been exploring for some years. There
continues to be input from various different
departments, including those dealing with our
archives and those dealing with legal affairs,
to look into the situation. And so we'll
be in touch with the Member States. So,
that is something that is a work in progress
that, as time goes on, we always try to
reinvigorate and revamp our processes for
dealing with situations, and we'll do that in
this case, as well. Inner City Press: Same
topic? Yeah, he seemed to say that… that
it's as simple as set… it's not about
archives. It's as simple as setting up a
procedure in which, rather than just the inform…
the UN choosing which information to push
forward, that it's set up a procedure in which,
based on a re… a request by the press or the
public, there's some responsibility on the
Secretariat to provide information. And he
said that that can be done… although it would be
good to bring Member States along and to get
buy-in from the General Assembly that, although
it's been said here many times, it doesn't
require the General Assembly to… to authorise
the Secretariat to make financial and other
information available to the public upon
request, not just as it's put out. So, I'm
just… I want to be very specific. It's not
about archives or Member States. Will
António Guterres establish, during his… I don't
know… in the next three months, six months, a
procedure in which requests for information can
be made and will be answered as required not
voluntarily or by discretion? Deputy
Spokesman: Well, with respect for the
envoy's… the Special Rapporteur's views, those
are his views. And we do have, like I
said, a process in place, which does include
involvement with the Member States, and so we'll
continue on that track. Inner City Press: He
also called a previous response to one of his
inquiries to the UN unsatisfactory. I
don't know if you've seen the press conference,
and I don’t want to actually… I'm pretty sure
what you'd say if I… so, I'm wondering, you say
there's as process, but doesn't the UN encourage
Member States to respond to Special Rapporteurs
and probably to take into account if the Special
Rapporteur who made the inquiry calls the
response unsatisfactory maybe to do another
response or figure out why it's unsatisfactory?
Deputy Spokesman: Yes, we do. And,
of course, we'll continue to be in dialogue with
Special Rapporteurs. We want to make sure
that their various concerns are addressed.
But this is, as I mentioned, a topic on which
we've been doing work, and we'll continue."
We'll see. Kaye said he looks forward to
speaking with new (seven week) head of the
Department of Public Information Alison Smale.

Fine - but the October 20 threat was
issued under Smale, and she has still not
responded to twopetitions
to her in September to reverse 20 months of
restrictions and restore Inner City Press to its
long-time shared work space, currently assigned to
a no-show, no-question Egyptian state media,
Akhbar al Yom, which came in only for "faux pooling"
of Guterres meeting with Sisi, here. We'll have
more on all that. Kaye field questions about BBC
in Iran, Trump and citing a lack of mobility for
journalists in Japan, on which we may have more.

October
23, 2017

UN
Threatens
Review of ICP's Accreditation
For Audio
Report While
Staking Out on
Cameroon

By
Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED
NATIONS, October 20 – The UN delivered a threat
to Inner City Press to “review” it accreditation
on Friday afternoon at 5 pm. The UN official who
signed the letter,
when Inner City Press went to ask about the
undefined violation of live-streaming Periscope
video at a photo op by UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres, had already left, minutes
after sending the threat. This comes two days
after Inner City Press asked
Guterres about the UN inaction on threatened
genocide in Cameroon, and the UN claimed
Guterres hadn't heard the 15-second long
question.

It also comes after Alison Smale the head of the
Department of Public Information which would
“review” Inner City Press' accreditation has
ignored threeseparatepetitions
from Inner City Press in the six weeks she has
been in the job, urging her to remove
restrictions on Inner City Press' reporting
which hinder its coverage of the UN's
performance in such crises as Yemen,
Kenya,
Myanmar,
and the Central African Republic where Guterres
travels next week, with Smale's DPI saying its
coverage of the trip will be a test of its
public relations ability. But the UN official
who triggered the complaint is Maher Nasser, who
filled in for Smale before she arrived.

His complaint is that audio of what he said to
Inner City Press as it staked out the elevators
in the UN lobby openly recording, as it has for
example
with Cameroon's Ambassador Tommo Monthe, here,
was similarly published.

A UN “Public Information” official is complaining
about an article, and abusing his position to
threaten to review Inner City Press'
accreditation. The UN has previously been called
out for targeting Inner City Press, and for
having no
rules or due process. But the UN is entirely
UNaccountable, impunity on censorship as, bigger
picture, on the cholera it brought to Haiti. And,
it seems, Antonio Guterres has not reformed or
reversed anything. This threat is from an official
involved in the last round of retaliation who told
Inner City Press on Twitter to be less "negative"
about the UN - amid inaction on the mass killing
in Cameroon - and who allowed pro-UN hecking of
Inner City Press' questions about the cholera the
UN brought to Haiti and the Ng Lap Seng /John Ashe
UN bribery scandal which resulted in six guilty
verdicts. We'll have more on this.

October
16, 2017

Bronx
(Zoo) kills in
the Congo: A
Batwa man has
complained to
the
organization
which runs New
York’s Bronx
Zoo, after his
17-year-old
son was shot
dead by a park
guard. The boy
was gathering
medicinal
plants with
his father,
Mobutu
Nakulire
Munganga, in
Kahuzi-Biega
National Park
in the
Democratic
Republic of
Congo (DRC) on
August 26. An
anti-poaching
squad opened
fire on them.
The guards
receive
logistical
support,
funding and
training from
the Wildlife
Conservation
Society (WCS),
a big
conservation
body which is
the parent
organization
of New York’s
Bronx zoo. WCS
was co-founded
by notorious
eugenicist
Madison Grant.
WCS has been
funding the
management of
Kahuzi-Biega
for over 20
years.
According to
international
law and WCS’s
own human
rights policy,
indigenous
peoples’
consent is
required for
conservation
projects on
their land...

The Bronx Zoo
was also
involved in
giving an
award to
Gabon's Ali
Bongo...

PUERTO
RICO, October 3 – The
UN system's International
Monetary Fund has yet to
announce any debt moratorium for
countries impacted by the recent
hurricanes, and
despite photo op trips by
those who could speak to and
of the IMF, nothing is changing. Most holders of Puerto
Rico's debt are doing
nothing to help. Even in 2016
before Hurricane
Maria, according to
Home Mortgage
Disclosure Act data
just released, Banco
Santander Puerto
Rico made 88
conventional home
purchase loans in
upper
income tracts in
the San Juan
MSA, 50 in
middle income
tracts, seven in
moderate
income tracts
and NONE in low-income
census tracts.
Citibank made
a single large
loans in San
Juan, for a multi-family
apartment
building. The
UNironically
named Whitebox
Advisors,
which has sued
on Puerto Rico
debt, has "a
policy of not
discussing
Puerto Rico."
We don't.
Watch this site. Back
on September
18 UN
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric gave the
press a mere three minutes
to sign up to attend the
UN's meeting about Irma, see below. As the meeting
began, Inner City
Press asked not
Dujarric but the
spokesman for the
President of the
General Assembly for
the PGA's view of
the IMF's position
on (no) debt
moratorium. From
the PGA Office's
summary:
"Asked for the
President’s
reaction to
comments by an
International
Monetary Fund
(IMF)
official, in
which the
official
allegedly said
that the IMF
would not be
open to
instituting a
debt
moratorium for
hurricane-hit
Antigua and
Barbuda, the
Spokesperson
replied that
the President
would not want
to
second-guess
the comments
of an IMF
official in an
area of the
IMF’s
expertise. The
Spokesperson
reiterated
that the
President was
committed to
the recovery
of Antigua and
Barbuda, which
is why he had
convened the
high-level
meeting on
Hurricane Irma
and invited
the Government
of Antigua and
Barbuda to
speak there."
In the
meeting, Achim
Steiner of
UNDP told even
Caribbean
nations they
could not
speak, so that
Robert De Niro
could. You
talkin' to me?
When
the IMFre-started
its biweekly embargoed press
briefings on
September 14, Inner City Press submitted a
question
about Hurricane
Irma and moratoria:
"On Antigua
and Barbuda,
and Hurricane
Irma impacted
countries more
generally... will
there be no
moratoria?
What is the
IMF doing?" IMF spokesperson
Gerry
Rice said,
"There's a
question from
Matthew Lee on
moratorium...
on that, I
would refer to
what Mme
Lagarde said a
few days ago,
of course the
IMF has
tremendous
sympathy. She
also said we
stand ready to
help. There
are a number
of options we
can look at in
that context.
At the moment
we are still
trying to make
an assessment.
As a factual
member, none
of our members
including
Antigua and
Barbuda have
formally
requested
assistance
from the
Fund." Oh. On
September 15,
when
Inner City
Press at the
UN asked Patti
Smith about it,
UN spokesman Stephane
Dujarric
cut off the
question saying he
would answer
it at his
forthcoming briefing.
He did not.

October
2, 2017

The
Bronx hosted a
donation drive
to help the
victims of
Hurricane
Maria in
Puerto Rico
and the
earthquake in
Mexico City on
Saturday,
September 30,
2017, at the
corner of
Southern
Boulevard and
Aldus Street.
Donations
includedi
clothing,
non-perishable
food and other
goods.

Inner
City Press
Asked Trudeau
of Canada Arms
Sales to
Saudi, He
Called The
Question Bad
Behavior

UNITED
NATIONS, September 21 – While Canada joins The
Netherlands at the UN in Geneva in calling for an
investigation of possible war crimes in Yemen
including the Saudi-led coalition's killing of
civilians, Canada has continued a $15 billion arms
deal with Saudi Arabia. When Canadian Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau held a press conference at
the UN on September 21, Inner City Press went
early, intending to ask him to explain this
incongruity or seeming hypocrisy. Trudeau's
spokesman announced that the questioners had been
“pre-determined,” but did not explain how. So in a
lull after what the spokesman called the last
question - would Trudeau be a mediator on
Venezuela - Inner City Press asked about Canadian
arms sales to Saudi while calling for a probe. At
first Trudeau said he was happy to answer the
question. Then he said no, he would not reward
“bad behavior,” and instead reached out for
question in French about day care. (Inner City
Press notes that pre-determining questioners is
bad behavior. Apparently the CBC journalist who
was given the first question agreed to it; the
organization only the day before sent an Egyptian
state media correspondent as the lone “pooler”
in Secretary General Antonio Guterres' meeting
with General Sisi.)

September
18, 2017

It's
UN General
Assembly week
in New York
City...

UN
General Assembly Week Bans Press on Day One on Refugees, UNprepared
& UNfair DPI of Smale

UNITED
NATIONS, September 16 – The UN is both unprepared and unfair
in the run-up to the 72nd General Assembly high
level week, now upon us. On September 16 with the
UN Media Alert listing a 4:30 pm event about
refugees, ostensibly Secretary General Antonio
Guterres' signature issue, Inner City Press
was stopped from entering the UN, even through the
Visitor's Entrance, to cover the event. Two UN
Security officers were unaware of the Media Alert
or what it was. As the time passed 4:30 pm, their
supervisor returned to say that his "boss, Millie
McCormack," said the Press could not come in.
Video here.
No one present from, nor any preparation by, the
UN Department of Public Information, now run by
Alison Smale who has not responded to numerous
petitions to her since September 1, even while
attended fashion
shows. The UN is both UNprepared and UNfair -
including on such issues as Myanmar,
Yemen,
Burundi
and Cameroon.
Next up,on September 18, US President Trump,
Ambassador Nikki Haley and UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres in the UN's ECOSOC Chamber.
September. Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric
has repeatedly said he will distribute a list of
meetings and bilaterals of his boss, his third
Secretary General in a row, Antonio Guterres. As
of the evening of Friday, September 15 it has not
happened. Dujarric tried to limit
his "background" briefing at 10 am on September 15
only to his friends

UNITED
NATIONS, September 7 – For weeks the UN had
promoted its book event about New York City and
the UN, featuring author Pamela Hanlon.

But
when Inner City Press went and asked about the
UN having brought cholera to Haiti and paid
nothing, and whether Haitians in Brooklyn had
been able to get any accountability from the UN,
there was no answer.

A
heckler in the audience said loudly that the
question was not appropriate. Video here.
So Inner City Press followed up on Ms. Hanlon's
statement that the land under the UN is still US
territory. If so, what of John Ashe selling
diplomatic posts from inside his UN General
Assembly President's office, and Inner City
Press for covering the scandal being thrown out
onto First Avenue by eight UN Security officers?
Audio here.
(NYPD told Inner City Press it has no
jurisdiction to take criminal complaints, even
for assault, for anything east of the First
Avenue curb.)

That question wasn't answered, either, including
by Penny Abeywardena, Commissioner of Mayor Bill
de Blasio’s Office for International Affairs.

Instead Maher Nasser, in charge of
the UN Department of Public Information from April
1 until tomorrow, said “it's always about you” and
ended the event, encouraging those present to buy
books for signing. And so it goes at the UN.

September
4, 2017

From
the US State
Department
last week: Q:
can you
confirm in New
York that the
facility you
are closing,
you’re
ordering
closed, is in
the Bronx?

SENIOR
ADMINISTRATION
OFFICIAL: I
can’t – I have
to say I’m not
a New Yorker.
I have no idea
where these –
where the
property is.
You’re asking
the wrong
person.

UNITED
NATIONS, August 24 – After UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres' spokesman met New York City's
incumbent / candidate for Mayor Bill de Blasio
for half an hour on August 24, there was a
three-minute photo opportunity at which de
Blasio spoke twice. Photos on Alamy, here.
Both mentioned climate change; de Blasio noted
that Guterres' wife is the deputy mayor of
Lisbon. Afterward in the parking lot, City
Council Speak Melissa Mark-Viverito was asked
about the idea of removing the Colombus statue
from 59th Street (she said, ask my press
office.) As one Free UN
Coalition for Access wag
noted, the UN has at least two
portraits on its walls of Kurt
Waldheim. The subway from
Grand Central to City Hall
was, predictably, delayed by a
stalled train. At
the UN noon briefing, Inner City Press asked
what seemed an obvious question. Will Guterres
be meeting or at least reaching out to de
Blasio's debate opponent of the night before,
Sal Albanese? The spokesman, Stephane Dujarric,
said no. Apparently like in Kenya, Guterres' UN
sides with incumbents whether during or just
after contested campaigns, with dubious results.
More on this to follow. With the UN being asked
to take action to ban killer robots, Inner City
Press on August 23 asked the UN for Secretary
General Antonio Guterres' view of killer robots.
Video here,
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: Elon Musk and other
high-profile, high-tech people have written an
open letter to the UN saying that the, what's
called killer robots, automated killing machines
for the use in war, should be prohibited in some
way by the UN. Does the Secretary-General
have any view on the appropriateness of killer
robots? Spokesman: I think it would be
easy to say that killer robots are not
appropriate, but I think, on, on a broader
point, and I think our head of disarmament made
that point in a recent speech, is that it's
clear that the regulatory framework that exists,
the global regulatory framework on weapons, has
not caught up with the technology as it exists
today. And it's a discussion that needs to
be had at an international, within a
multilateral setting. Inner City Press: And,
just finally, there was a, there was a swearing
in of three officials this morning, including an
Under-Secretary-General of DESA. And,
previously, those type of events have been open
for… have been photo ops for non-UN photo
press. Today, it wasn't. What
changed between July 11th when an identical…
Spokesman: If you are in need of photos,
we can provide them free of charge. Inner City
Press:
But what happened? Are we going backwards in
terms of access? Spokesman: We're always
going forward.

Really? When Guterres took
five media questions on August 16 after a two week
vacation, Inner City Press tried to ask him about
the UN bribery verdict against Ng Lap Seng
rendered by a jury in lower Manhattan just before
he left. Guterres heard the question, but did not
answer. Video here.

August
21, 2017

This,
in the Bronx,
was wrong,
https://youtu.be/Dg6cFUjiXhU
just as this
south in the
UN was and is
wrong:

UNITED
NATIONS, August 18 – Three weeks after the UN
bribery verdict of six guilty counts against Ng
Lap Seng was delivered by the jury on July 27, on
August 16 Inner City Press asked UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres for his response to the
verdict. He scoffed and walked off. Video here. On
August 17 Inner City Press asked Guterres' deputy
spokesman Farhan Haq about trial exhibits it has
begun to receive, on Meena
Sur and the Global
Compact, for first examples. Video here;
from the UN transcript
here, text below. On August 18, Inner City
Press asked Haq about another
of the many exhibits, moving closer to home: UN
transcript here:
Inner City Press: as these exhibits from the Ng
Lap Seng trial continue to come in, I wanted to
ask you, I was surprised to see it, because it
wasn't, at least the days that I went, presented
in the trial. There are documents that show that
the office, UN Office of South-South Cooperation,
wrote a letter supporting the conference centre in
Macau, specifically after South-South News covered
a Ban Ki-moon trip. I think they were the
only media to cover it, and afterwards, they were
congratulated by the Office of South-South
Cooperation, and a letter was produced by Mr.
Yiping Zhou supporting the conference center. From
the document, it appears that the UN system as a
whole, whether the Secretary-General knew or not,
essentially rewarded positive coverage of this Ban
Ki-moon trip with a letter for a conference centre
that's now been totally discredited and was not
built because it was based on bribery. And I
wanted to know, what is the UN's position on
this? What is… I know Mr. Yiping Zhou has
left, but what was the connection between the
South-South News travelling with and covering Ban
Ki-moon's trip and this letter that was given to
the, the Sun Kian Ip Foundation to build a
conference centre in Macau?

Deputy Spokesman: Well, I'm not aware of any
connection.

Regarding concerns about South-South News, we've
explained to you at the time what our concerns had
been about South-South News and its
activities. They are no longer accredited,
and the Office of South-South Cooperation, as you
know, had undergone different reforms under its
new leadership, and I believe they've been in
touch with you about that.

Inner City Press: My question really at this point
goes to the Secretariat, if you see what I'm
saying, because the… the activity of South-South
News that UNDP's [United Nations Development
Programme] Office of South-South Cooperation was
rewarding with this letter was coverage of the
Secretary-General's trip. So was this done
with no knowledge by the Secretariat… by the
Secretariat?

Deputy Spokesman: We, we don't, we don't
"reward" coverage of trips by
Secretaries-General. I mean, there are many
trips. Many, many outlets cover them.

Deputy Spokesman: If they were all getting
rewarded for them, that would be lots and lots of
rewards to hand out. Have a good weekend,
everyone.

UNITED
NATIONS, August 12 – In the UN on August 11, the
Ambassador of Guinea Bissau gave a speech in front
of a curved wall of painting by a Chinese artist,
praising a Memorandum of Understanding reached
between his country and something called “UNCG,”
which he did not define.

Inner City Press, evicted
and still restricted for covering Macau-based
buinessman Ng Lap Seng's purchase of and
agreements with various small countries and UN
entities, managed to Periscope the event, here.

Afterward Inner City Press research found that
UNCG is the UN Commutech Group, which on the
Internet has a total of two Tweets and a website
that is still “UNder construction,” even as the
group brags of having penetrated the UN General
Assembly high level week in 2015 and 2016.

That General Assembly week in 2015 is the one in
which then Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's nephew
Dennis Bahn and brother,
still on the lam, used Ban's and the UN's name to
try to sell real estate in Vietnam, according to
the US Attorney's indictment in the US Court for
the Southern District of New York.

Inner City Press is covering that case as well,
even as the UN Department of Public Information, soon to
be headed by Alison Smale of the New York Times,
refuses even after Ng's conviction on all charges
to return
Inner City Press to regular Resident Correspondent
accreditation and its office, for now assigned to
an Egyptian state media Akhbar al Yom whose
correspondent Sanaa Youssef, a 1984 president of
the UN Correspondents Association, rarely comes in
and never asks questions.

Has the UN reformed or changed under Ban's
successor Antonio Guterres and his deputy Amina J.
Mohammed, in power more than seven months? Will
its DPI "Global Communications," under Smale, who
will replace Cristina Gallach who according even
to a UN audit first published
by Inner City Press allowed Ng, with no due
diligence, to buy events in the UN and even the UN
slavery memorial?

There is a structural conflict of interest that
Inner City Press and now the Free UN Coalition
for Access have pointed out: the people in
charge of pro-UN propaganda are also allowed to
rule on the accreditation and access of
independent press covering the UN more critically,
with no content-neutral rules, or rules of any
kind. What could do wrong?

The August 11 event had free cans of (warm) beer,
duck and chicken feet, and the banner of ECOWAS,
the mission of Sierra Leone and the Cote d'Ivoire
(Ivory Coast) consulate. But only a few hours
later, while the painting remained up, the
identifying paraphernalia was gone.

The UN provided support services to the event, and
Inner City Press has the document, as it awaits
further documents from the Ng Lap Seng trial. The
UN is corrupt. We'll have more on this.

UNITED
NATIONS, August 5 – The day after an art exhibit
in the UN had four paintings removed by North
Korea, the acting head of "Global
Communications" for the UN declined address the
UN's role in this and other censorship. Maher
Nasser who took over on April 1 from Department
of Public Information chief Cristina Gallach,
named in the UN's own pre-guilty verdict audit
of Ng Lap Seng's lawless purchase of another art
show in the UN, was asked about continuing
Gallach's restrictions on Inner City Press, and
about North Korea banning the paintings.
He did not even purport to respond on the later,
and dissembled on the restrictions on Inner City
Press. First he said
"You have same access for accredited media." But
this is false: for example, the Egyptian state
correspondent Sanaa Youssef his DPI is trying to
give Inner City Press' long time office to could
stake-out General Assembly meetings without
having the minder Inner City Press is now
required to be accompanied by (this also cuts
into what questions can be and are asked, the
purpose of minders.) Youssef, purportedly
representing Sisi's Akhbar al Yom, didn't even
come in for Egypt's August 2 press conference,
nor the August 5 Security Council meeting under
Egypt's presidency. It is a fraud. While Nasser
cited a policy about the UN Bookstore - where
numerous dubious pro-UN books are for sale - he
refused to state what "policy" results in a
critical media present and asking questions
after day being restricted, without hearing or
appeal, and a no-show state media that asks no
questions having its office and full access.
Youssef is a former president of the pro-UN (and
Ng Lap Seng funded) UN Correspondents
Association; another former UNCA president Giampaolo
Pioli hosted Nasser at his Hamptons
shindig. Earlier on August 5 Nasser lavished
praise on a pro-UN piece by yet another former
UNCA president, here. So Nassar hob-nobs with
people who vowed to get Inner City Press evicted
for its coverage, while continuing the
restrictions on Inner City Press. Global
Communications, indeed. We'll have more on this.
The show that opened in the UN Delegates
Entrance on Friday night promised to have four
paintings by North Korean artists, without the
approval of their government, set
for further sanctions the next day. But when
Inner City Press attended the show, all four
paintings were gone and pages 49 through 52 had
been ripped out of the show program it picked
up.

The co-host with Vanuatu
of the exhibition, who was quoted
in the July 31 New York Post that “the initiative
is under the table — very low key,” told Inner
City Press exclusively on August 4 that the four
paintings had been removed and that at some later
date a single approved work would be submitted by
the government of North Korea -- the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea, in UNese.

July
31, 2017

The
scam
continues, in
the DNA: "The Crescendo is being billed by
Carnegie Management as 'a residential complex built to commemorate
the history of an area once filled with musical references.' In
October 2015, a billboard went up near theThird Avenue
Bridgedeclaring Port Morris to be thePiano District.The
sign was installed bySomerset PartnersandThe Chetrit
Group, the developers that joined together to buy two
properties along the Harlem River, at 2401 Third Ave. and 101
Lincoln Ave., for $58 million with plans to turn
them into a residential community featuring retail. The
backlash was swift, spurring use of the hashtag#WhatPianoDistrict on
social media."

July
24, 2017

The
New York State
Department of
Environmental
Conservation
(DEC) has
received
Brownfield
Cleanup
Program (BCP)
applications,
Draft Remedial
Action Work
Plans and
Final
Investigation
Reports from
Concourse
Village West
Owner LLC for
the following
sites:

Concourse
Village West
Apartments -
North, site ID
#C203091. This
site is
located in the
Borough of
Bronx, within
the County of
Bronx, and is
located at 180
East 156th
Street.
Concourse
Village West
Apartments -
South, site ID
#C203092. This
site is
located in the
Borough of
Bronx, within
the County of
Bronx, and is
located at 741
Concourse
Village and
702 Grand
Concourse.
Copies of the
applications,
Draft Remedial
Action Work
Plans, Final
Investigation
Reports and
other relevant
documents are
available at
the document
repositories
located at NY
Public Library
– Melrose
Branch, 910
Morris Ave,
Bronx, 10451
and Bronx
Community
Board 4, 1650
Selwyn Ave,
Suite 11A,
Bronx, 10457.

UNITED
NATIONS, July 21 – With
Reuters getting trashed from the right and left
for live-streaming
Sean Spicer's family
residence
in Virginia,
it's the hypocrisy
that jumps out to
the Press. At
the UN, Reuters
and the UN
Correspondents
Association on
which it has a
permanent seat
got Inner
City Press
evicted from
the UN Press
Briefing Room
and UN for
live streaming
a formal meeting in
the UN Press
Briefing Room,
see here and here.
Reuters later
got the
UN Spokesperson's
office to
allow it to deny corruption on UNTV. Now
Reuters
live-streams a
private
residence.
Hypocrisy
much?On July 16 Reuters reported a letter to FIFA
from what
it called
the "boycott states" demanding
that Qatar be stripped of
the 2022 World Cup.
There's only one problem:
FIFA denies receiving the
letter, and
Reuters doesn't even claim to
have "seen" it.
This is the same
Reuters which
for example at the
UN has used
its "Palais"
(insider)
status to
lobby to get
smaller
investigative
Press thrown
out. Here
was a message with
Reuters
signature
block to the
UN's
Stephane
Dujarric, which
Inner City
Press not only
saw but published,
only to have
Google grant a
frivolous
Digital
Millennium
Copyright Act
complaint
(that an
anti-Press email
could be copyrighted) and
banned
from Search. The
complainant's
successor has
continued the
campaign, using
Reuters'
permanent seat
on the board
of the UN
Correspondents
Association,
and followed
up with a
false
complaint to
UN Security,
which
subsequently
ousted Inner
City Press. We'll
have more on
this.

July
17, 2017

Bronx
shelters, per
Daily News: "A
caseworker at
a Bronx
homeless
shelter faces
sex abuse
charges after
befriending a
family and
molesting
their
10-year-old
son,
authorities
said
Thursday.Amin
Laboriel, 37,
was
apprehended
last month in
Miami as he
tried to flee
the country,
prosecutors
said. He had a
one-way ticket
to Honduras on
him when he
was put in
handcuffs.
Prosecutors
said he met
his victim’s
mother at his
job at the
Bridge Haven
Family
Transitional
Residence and
quickly gained
the family’s
trust. On June
2, he offered
to take her
10-year-old
boy to his
Jackson
Heights,
Queens, home
for a night.
During the
sleepover,
Laboriel
sexually
abused and
sodomized the
child,
prosecutors
said. Police
were alerted
to the crime a
few weeks
later — just
as Laboriel
was about to
fly out of
Miami
International
Airport."

July
10, 2017

NYC
court beat: In 1st
UN
Bribery Case,Lorenzo
Admits
$20,000 a
Month from Ng's
South South
News, in UNTV

By
Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED
NATIONS, July 7 – In the UN bribery case against
Macau-based businessman Ng Lap Seng, for which
jury selection ran from June 26 through June 28
(Periscope here),
on July 6 former Dominican Republic Deputy
Ambassador and South South News chief Francis
Lorenzo started to describe the corruption at the
United Nations. He was making $72,000 a year from
his country, when Ng Lap Seng started paying him
$20,000 a month and put him in charge of South
South News despite, Lorenzo testified, having
never done journalism in his life. (The UN
Department of Public Information, with
now-spokesman Stephane Duajrric in charge of
television, put Ng's and Lorenzo's South South
News' content in the UNTV archives; Dujarric
repeatedly refused to explain to Inner City Press
how this happened.) Lorenzo described how UN
General Assembly President John Ashe, since
mysteriously killed by his own barbell, became
part of the push for Ng's company Sun Kian Ip
Group to procure UN Secretariat documents to build
a multi-billion dollar convention center in Macau.
Ng's lawyers, who are preparing to cross-examine
Lorenzo, have said they may use in his defense
some UN documents which they have not yet
specified. The prosecution has argued "defense
counsel stated, 'We also have another document
that is from the UN that we are going to introduce
which is the secretary delegation members list.”
(Tr. 138.) In addition, when sharing proposed
opening slides, the Government learned that the
defendant had printed out or downloaded two
excerpts from UNOSSC websites that have never been
produced or identified to the Government, but that
the defendant asserted he intends to introduce at
trial. The Government does not have a copy of the
pertinent webpages, nor does it know whether the
website from which they came is currently
available or whether, in any event, the excerpts
fairly and accurately capture the website." Inner
City Press which has covered this inside the UN
(and been thrown out by the UN for seeking to
cover, in the UN Press Briefing Room, an event by
a group funded by Ng's South South News, which
will now host Secretary General Antonio Guterres'
deputy Amina J. Mohammed) notes that the Office of
South South Cooperation has refused to hold a
press conference. On July 6, Inner City Press
asked UN holdover Spokesman Stephane Dujarric
about, video here, UN transcript here

We
agree: bring
bike-share to
The Bronx.
"The Bronx
currently
suffers from
the worst
health
outcomes in
New York
State, and
initiatives
that support
active
transportation,
such as Citi
Bike, should
be made
available to
all residents
of the
borough. As it
improves
access to
farmers
markets,
shopping
districts and
other forms of
transit, our
communities
deserve the
same access to
Citi Bike as
other parts of
the city. We
call on Mayor
De Blasio to
extend this
valuable city
resource to
the Bronx
now." - Father
Ricardo
Fajardo,
Pastor, Holy
Spirit Church.

June
19, 2017

A
brownfield at
1888 Bathgate
Ave is slated
for
redevelopment
- with Low
Income Housing
Tax Credits,
recently
scrutinized by
Frontline and
NPR. So, two
things to look
at...

June
12, 2017

If
you're going
to replace the
Sheridan
Expressway, it
should be with
parks, not
another truck
road...
June 5, 2017

MetroNorth's
service to The
Bronx gets
worse and
worse. On June
3 the 2:54 pm
train stopped
for more than
20 minutes at
125th Street,
with
misleading
announcements
about a delay
of 5 to 10
minutes, then
a blaming of
“congestion”
in The Bronx.
We'll have
more on this.

UNITED
NATIONS, May 24 – While the UN Security Council
visited Cameroon during the 94 day Internet cut
off and said nothing publicly about it (but see
below), Inner City Press has obtained and has
exclusively published
on Patreon and now Scribd,
here Cameroon's "Urgent and Confidential"
letter to the UN Security Council, about
weapons. On May 23, Inner City Press went to the
New York event for Cameroon's "National" Day,
which was boycotted in the Anglophone regions of
the country. In New York, however, UN Deputy
Secretary General Amina J. Mohammad and Antonio
Guterres' Chef de Cabinet Maria Luiza Ribeiro
Viotti attended, along with French Permanent
Representative to the UN Francois Delattre,
Burundi's Albert Shingiro and others. Video here.

Periscope
inside was not possible due, ironically, to a lack
of Internet. There were toasts in French for
Chantalle Biya and for the UN officials; on the
way out UN staffers told Inner City Press it was
sure to criticize them. What matters, as always,
is what happens going forward. Italy is a member
of the Security Council this year, and on the
morning of May 18 including in light of Italian
President Mattarella's meetings this year with
Cameroon's 34 year president Paul Biya, Inner City
Press asked Italy's Mission to the UN: "your
Mission was part of the Security Council's trip
including to Cameroon earlier this year, during
the country's 94-day Internet shut off to millions
of people in the Northwest and Southwest (or
Anglophone) regions. The IMF, for what it's worth,
told Inner City Press the government's Internet
cut off is among other things a financial risk in
2017. Could you comment on your Mission's aware of
the issue, during the Security Council visit to
Cameroon and since, and on whether you believe the
Secretary General and DPA, as a matter of
prevention of conflict, may have a greater role to
play in this long-standing, UN-related conflict or
dispute?" Eight hours later, the Italian Mission's
spokesperson Giovanni Davoli replied on Cameroon
that "the situation you are mentioning was not in
the agenda of the UNSC visit." To his credit,
Swedish diplomat Carl Skau tells Inner City Press,
"I can confirm that the issue was raised by the
delegation in meetings." Now Italy's spokesman
insists, "I confirm: it was not in the agenda of
the visit. Whether it was raised, it is another
matter on which I have no elements." Meanwhile,
party in interest France has yet
to respond, while Emmanuel Macron is in
Mali. We'll have more on this.

UNITED
NATIONS, May 14 – The UN Federal Credit Union,
regulated by the US National Credit Union
Administration, openly solicits the business of
both North Korean employees of the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea's mission to the UN
and the members of the UN Association of the USA
(UNA-USA), amid questions of immunity and a
previous UNFCU settlement for sanctions
violations.

UNFCU's
website lists
under “Missions to the UN in New York eligible
to join UNFCU” that of “North Korea (DPRK).”
Now, after the latest North Korean launch, US
Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley on May 14 told
ABC's This Week that the screws will be
tightened on North Korea, to isolate them. So,
at the UN, what about the (US regulated) UN
Federal Credit Union?

Inner
City Press asked UNFCU's Senior Manager of Media
Relations Elisabeth Philippe questions including
“why some UN member states' missions to the UN
are eligible to join UNFCU, including the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and
others are not, why members of UNA-USA became
eligible to join UNFCU, what regulatory filings
in any UNFCU made for this change in field of
membership, and any restrictions on the use of
these UNA-USA members' funds, and what services
UNFCU offers to UN agencies and country teams,
in which countries, and if there are any
restrictions or safeguards.”

On deeming the North Korean
mission and all of its employees eligible, UNFCU's
Ms. Philippe told Inner City Press, “The employees
of any mission to the United Nations based in New
York are eligible to apply for UNFCU membership.
The employees of all missions are eligible to join
once their mission has submitted an application
and been approved.” The website says the mission
itself can join UNFCU. On May 10, Inner City Press
asked the chairman of the UN Security Council's
North Korea Sanctions Committee Sebastiano Cardi
about North Korea's embassy in Berlin
renting out space as a hostel, video here.
What safeguards does UNFCU, with UNA-USA's members
in its field of membership, have?

May
15, 2017

Not
good: the
beating of
Souleymane
Porgo of
Burkina Faso,
on the Grand
Concourse -
even the US
Embassy in
Burkina has
had to
apologize...

UNITED
NATIONS, May 11 – When the UN hosted an event
and press conference about small businesses,
they made it nearly impossible for Inner City
Press which actually covers the topic, to access
the speeches which praised, among others,
Goldman Sachs and Facebook. (A surreal tango
reception, however, was accessible as Inner City
Press was invited and DPI wasn't around to
exclude it: Periscope here.)
The event was in the ECOSOC Chamber, which Inner
City Press cannot access, unlike other
correspondents who didn't bother to cover the
issue, or even to come in to the UN. More than
fourteen months ago, acting against Press
coverage of Ban Ki-moon's links to UN corruption
cases, the UN Department of Public Information
had Inner City Press physically
ousted from the UN.Audio
here.

Since then an UNrelenting
campaign of harassment by UN Security and the
requirement that Inner City Press unlike other
media have minders to stake-out public events in
the UN has continued. On May 11 to try
to cover an almost empty press conference about
small businesses, Inner City Press had to wait
more than twenty minutes in the metal detector
line, even as DPI shepherded other correspondents
to the front of the line and through. This while
acting DPI chief Maher Nasser publicly says Inner
City Press has fine access, and Margaret Novicki
said on UNTV that DPI and the UN are fully
committed to free press. It is a scam, and
censorship. The Egyptian state media to which DPI
is trying to give Inner City Press' long time
shared office, Akhbar al Yom, is almost never in
the UN, never asks questions. This is censorship.

UNITED
NATIONS, May 4 – At the UN's World Press Freedom
Day event, the hypocrisy of the UN was on
display. After a UN panel gave speeches praising
the UN's work, the floor was opened for
questions. Inner City Press raised its hand
throughout. First the Department of Public
Information's Margaret Novicki called on a non
governmental organization; then she switched to
pre-selected questioners. A DPI staffer told
Inner City Press Novicki erred in calling on the
NGO, but to keep its hand raised. Inner City
Press waited and then asked about the UN's own
commitment to press freedom, using as examples
the World Intellectual Property Organization's
use of criminal defamation laws against a Swiss
radio station, FAO going after a website for
reporting on corruption, and the UN's lack of
due process protections for journalists. All
Novicki said, to the three questions, was that
"as you know," DPI is committed to freedom of
the press. Video here.

Really?
Contrary to Secretary General Antonio Guterres calling
for an end to crackdowns on the press, more than
fourteen months ago, acting against Press
coverage of Ban Ki-moon's links to UN corruption
cases, the UN Department of Public Information
had Inner City Press physically
ousted from the UN.Audio
here.

Since then an UNrelenting
campaign of harassment by UN Security (DSS) and
the requirement that Inner City Press unlike other
media have minders to stake-out public events in
the UN has continued.

May 1,
2017

History
in the soil, 198
East 135th
Street:
"Prior site
uses include a
railroad
freight yard,
coal yard,
warehousing,
and various
industrial
uses (some of
which included
oil storage).
Historic fill
is also
present at the
site. "

April
24, 2017

At UN,DPI Prejudice Against
Critical Press
UNanswered,
Bello Wiffs on
Haiti and Roma

By
Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS,
April 21 – The UN which evicted Inner City Press
14 months ago after it sought to covering UN
corruption in the UN Press Briefing Room has on
April 20 responded
that it is fine to continue to confine it to
minders, while giving much more access to pro-UN
or state media like Akhbar al Yom and others
which never ask questions, or challenge
incompetence. This mendacious answer continued,
by default, at an event in the UN Bookstore on
April 21, video
here.

Maher Nasser, for the second
time the "Officer in Charge" of the UN Department
of Public Information, was the moderator but did
not even purport to answer Inner City Press'
question about his prejudice against critical
media. Nasser responded three weeks after Inner
City Press' formal request
by saying
"U have same access as 3000 other journalists."
This while his DPI has given the Resident
Correspondent accreditation Inner City Press had
for 10 years to entities which just arrived at the
UN, or those like a Moroccan correspondent who in
fact work FOR the UN. It is disgusting censorship.
To become the new head of DPI under Antonio
Guterres, candidates Inner City Press has reported
on include Michele
Montas, the Ban Ki-moon spokesperson who
participated in meetings about excluding Inner
City Press from Google News and threatening it
along with Fox News and the Wall Street Journal,
and a correspondents for a Saudi media openly
lobbying Guterres officials. Both are, it's said,
Americans. Will the US Mission, so recently
bragging about transparency
in the NGO Committee, allow a censor to head DPI?
Allow the lawless, no due process regime of
censorship of anti-corruption reporting to
continue? Watch this site. The UN, demonstrating
hypocrisy on both press freedom and transparency,
evicted Inner City Press as it covered UN
corruption in the Ng Lap Seng bribery case and
restricts it even now, after the evicting official
is gone from the UN's unaccountable Department of
Public Information. A formal request
for reversal

UNITED NATIONS,
April 13 – The UN, demonstrating hypocrisy on
both press freedom and transparency, evicted
Inner City Press as it covered UN corruption in
the Ng Lap Seng bribery case and restricts it
even now, after the evicting official is gone
from the UN's unaccountable Department of Public
Information. A formal request
for reversal, below, was filed 13 days ago. So
far only a Kafka-esque one line response,
followed by an accusation by the UN's lead
spokesman Stephane Dujarric that Inner City
Press' criticism of the UN and some of its
officials is "harassment." Video
here. When Dujarric was in charge of media
accreditation at the UN, he summoned Inner City
Press about a mere tweet, here.
This, then, is censorship. And those who took
over accreditation after Dujarric, in what's
being revealed as the DPI of UN bribery indicted
Ng Lap Seng can't even explain the basis of
minders and metal detectors for Inner City Press
while, for example, Egyptian state media Akhbar
al Yom was nowhere to be seen, hasn't asked a
single question in ten months. The
UN is Corrupt - we'll have more on this.

Having no response other than a forward to yet
more UN DPI officials, Inner City Press asked
and was told, Didn't [a particular] DPI official
talk to you? Well, no.

So Inner City Press put it in writing
again: "Eleven days ago I wrote with several
requests to the Department of Public Information,
including regarding the ongoing restrictions in
reporting that I face due to a no
due process eviction ordered by the former
USG of DPI. Other than a notification that my
request was being forwarded to still others in
DPI, Inner City Press has received no response,
except today to be told that one of the addresses
was supposed to, or supposedly, told Inner City
Press 'there is no change at this time.' This is
totally unacceptable. Only in the past few days, I
was prevented from staking out the Rwanda
genocide memorial as I have in previous
years (the DPI escort or minder told me, very
quickly, that I had to leave); as I have told DPI,
I would have gone to cover the USG of DPA's
counter-terrorism briefing today but for the
requirement of a minder....This is a reiterated
request for reversal or a written explanation of
what the UN has done and is doing with regard to
Inner City Press." The UN's response? A single
line: "upon review of the situation there is no
change in the current status." This was copied to
UN DPI officials Maher Nasser, Hua
Jiang, Hak-Fan Lau, Gallach-aide Darrin
Farrant - and then others, on which we'll have
more.

April
10, 2017

The fight for
freedom of the
Press, from
the Bronx has
spread south
to Manhattan's
Turtle Bay,
with this
filed: "At UN, Formal
Request Made To End Restrictions on Press, Is
Officer in Charge, In Charge?

By
Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS,
April 5 – The UN, demonstrating hypocrisy on
both press freedom and transparency, evicted
Inner City Press as it covered UN corruption in
the Ng Lap Seng bribery case and restricts it
even now, after the evicting official is gone.
(A formal request for reversal, below, as been
filed). After the UN's head of Communications
Cristina Gallach was given a strange farewell
toast on March 30, the UN told Inner City Press
that the "position will be filled by
an Officer-in-Charge... while
the process to find a new
Under-Secretary-General for
Public Information continues."

On
April 3, Inner City Press
wrote to this Officer in
Charge, who copied the
request to several others to
be named:

"Four
hundred and five days ago, without any hearing or
opportunity to be heard, I was ordered out of the
United Nations for having sought to covering a
meeting in the UN Press Briefing Room that was
nowhere listed as closed to some journalists and not
others. Inner City Press, still without any hearing
and no appeal since, was then evicted from its
shared office S-303 which has sat largely unused
since. I have been forced, for more than a year, to
only enter through the metal detectors at the
Visitors Entrance, and my pass has not worked on the
second floor turnstile, precluding me from covering
events on the second floor as other correspondents
could. There are other restrictions and double
standards, hindering reporting, of which DPI has
been made aware.

Yesterday was the
last day atop DPI for the official who without
speaking to me once signed the February 19, 2016
letter, and for the April 2016 eviction. The Deputy
Spokespersontold me
yesterday, in a noon briefingwhere I
asked six questions (earlier the week there was a
noon briefing where from the entire rest of the
accredited press corps there were only three
questioners), I was told that you are the Officer in
Charge of DPI. In that
capacity, this is a formal request that Inner City
Press be restored to the office it was ousted from
without due process... and that I be restored to
Resident Correspondent accreditation immediately...
I also incorporate this link to the Special
Rapporteurs for Freedom of Expression and Human
Rights Defenders letter:
and,
again, this petition."

Days later, no ruling, attempted jokes while
Inner City Press worked to write up the Syria UN Security Council
meeting from a bench in the UN lobby. We'll have more on this.

On March
28, forwarded not sent to Inner City Press,
this: "UNCA will host a farewell reception in
honor of Under-Secretary-General of DPI,
Cristina Gallach, on Thursday, March 30th at
5:30 pm in the UNCA room (3rd floor, UN
Secretariat Building, room 310). Food and wine
will be served. Please join us for a farewell
toast!" Toasting what? Allowing into the UN with
no due diligence the Macau-based businessman Ng
Lap Seng, as detailed in the UN's own audit
at Paragraphs 37-40 and 20b? Evicting the Press
without
any hearing or appeal? The decline in
media access? On March 29, Inner City Press
asked among other things, "yesterday your Office
replied, regarding the USG of DPI, 'We will
announce arrivals and departures as they occur.'
Now that your partner has arranged a farewell
for this USG for March 30, what is the rationale
for your Office refusing to confirm her
departure and the status of recruiting a
replacement?" The UN spokesman replied,
"Regarding Under-Secretary-General Cristina
Gallach, her position will be filled by an
Officer-in-Charge upon her departure while the
process to find a new Under-Secretary-General
for Public Information continues." We'll have
more on this.

In early 2016, covering the UN corruption
scandals which have resulted in two sets of
indictments for bribery involving the UN, Inner
City Press was ordered to leave the UN Press
Briefing Room by then Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

Other correspondents were
allowed to stay in the briefing room, which
Dujarric had "lent" them. But he insisted that
Inner City Press leave. Video here."

April
3, 2017

Gentrification
watch: Treetop
Development
has announced
plans for a
$160 million,
dual-tower
development in
the South
Bronx. The
12-story
rental towers
will be part
of a mixed-use
project of
roughly
360,000 square
feet. The
developer is
also planning
a
260,000-square-foot
residential
project with
retail on the
ground floor,
as well as a
100,000-square-foot
rental
development,
nearby....

March
27, 2017

There's
a fight-back
against
closing Junior
High School
145 in
Morrisania. In
the 2015-2016
school year,
only eight
percent of
students at
JHS 145 passed
state reading
exams, and
only three
percent passed
state math
tests....

March
20, 2017

The (lack of)
respect for
the Bronx was
exemplified by
the stairs
down to the D
Train on
Tremont during
and after the
snow storm...
March 13, 2017

Excess
and
gentrification
to come:
Chetrit Group
and Somerset
Partners are
laying out
their vision
for the future
buildings at
101 Lincoln
Ave. and 2401
Third Ave....

March
6, 2017

Last
week, Bronx
Borough
President Diaz
said he
supports
Queens
Assembly
Member Andrew
Hevesi's Home
Stability
Support plan,
which would
give rent
subsidies to
those in
danger of
losing their
homes...

February
27, 2017

When an Amber
alert went off
all over New
York on
February 24,
it mentioned
The Bronx.
Afterward,
this: "Cops
initially
tracked
Hernandez to
Louis Nine
Blvd. in the
Foxhurst
section of the
Bronx — about
53 miles from
Bridgeport —
after
Hernandez was
spotted in the
area, and his
cell phone
pinged there."

Who
calls that
Foxhurst? Call
it Hagstrom
hangover.

February 20,
2017

Slumlord
or vivero?
"details are
being released
about the
victims who
contracted a
rare disease
transmitted by
rat urine,
including a
link to a
Bronx business
just a block
away from the
building that
has become the
main target of
both tenants
and the city.
In the last
two months,
three people
along a single
block have
contracted
leptospirosis,
a rare
bacterial
infection. Two
of the
victims,
including one
man in his 30s
who died last
year, at one
point worked
at a nearby
live poultry
shop."

February
13, 2017

Bronx
Catholic
schools hit
hard: The
Archdiocese of
New York
has
announced that
St. Ann School
in Norwood,
Visitation
School in
Kingsbridge
and St. Mary
School in
Wakefield will
close, along
with St.
Gregory the
Great School
on the Upper
West Side and
St. Peter's
Regional
School in
Sullivan
County. Sts.
Peter and Paul
School in
Morrisania
will turn into
a universal
pre-K program
starting in
September...